The Harvester

ier tread, and rested his head against the casing of the cabin door when he gave the command. The tip of the dog's nose touched the

come

voice grew more imperative as he stretched a lean, wiry hand toward the dog.

r, kommen

lting snow and unsheathing buds swept the lake beside them, and lifted a waving tangle of light hair on the brow of the man, while a level ra

er the day?" inqu

that he did not, but was waiting with every sense alert

he ecstasy of the first bluebird waked the dawn. All day you have seen the gold-yellow and blood-red os

oved in the suave, easy voice, and his tail beat hi

our a solemn one that influences my whole after life. It is time for your annual decision on my

rising inflection ending in his name utte

I leave home for the noise and grime of the city,

waiting for a familiar syllable. The man gazed steadily

ein, and ginseng, not to mention an occasional hour with

is tail lashing, and at the pause he leaped up and thrust his nose against the face of the man. The Harvester leaned bac

our fathers before us. What would we of the camp fire, the long trail, the earthy search, we harvesters of herbs the famous chemists require, wh

ind in our faces, wild perfume in our nostrils, muck on our feet, that's the life for us. Our blood was tainted to begin with, and we've lived here so long it is now a passion in our hearts. I

the animal trembled with delight. Then the voice of the

ortant than the other. Just to be wiped out, Bel, pouf! That isn't anything and it concerns no one save ourselves. But to br

ropped to a whisper as

t the girl

t would bring more caressing, bewildered by

ft me, rustling for grub, living in untram

game in such intense earnest that he felt the results final with him. The animal was immovable now, lost again, his anxious eyes watching the face of the master, his eager ears waiting for w

can get, probably--not the one I would want--to marry me, and come here and spoil all our good times? Do we want a woman around scolding if we are away

nd his name for a certainty, he sprang forward, his tail waving as his nose touched the face of the Harvester. Then he shot acros

ou'd be chained, while I pranced over the country like a half-broken colt, trying to attract some girl. I'd have to waste time I need for my work and spend money that draws good interest while we sleep, to tempt her with presents. I'd have to rebuild the cabin and there's no

urn to the man who had struck him the first blow his pampered body ever had received; but he c

est close and you'd call me off and put me at work like that, would you? If I ever had supposed lost all your senses, I never would have asked you. Six ye

l! You gave it to me the time you pointed that rattler within six inches of my fingers in the blood-root bed. You saw the falling limb in time to warn me. You al

two big tears squeezed from his eyes and rolled down his face. To be shut out was worse than the blow. He did

the crude rack on the wall loaded with medical works, botanies, drug encyclopaedias, the books of the few authors who interested him, and the bare, muck-tracked floor. He went to the kitchen, where he built a fire in the cook stove, and to the

cherry bark

root bar

hazel bar

flag root

ke root

od root

rhound 1

-

7

't. That's pretty fair! Some days I don't make it, and then when a consignment of seeds go or ginseng is wanted the cash comes in right properly. I could waste h

per, heaped a plate generously, placed it on the floor

f your intelligence might realize that you would get as much of a dose as I. Would she permit you to eat from a plate on the kitchen floor? Not on your life, Belshazzar! Frozen scraps around the door for you! Would she allow you to sleep across the foot of the bed? Ho, ho, ho! Would she have you trackin

s. Some of them were oddities, others were failures, but most of them were unusually successful. He selected one of black walnut, carved until the outline of his pattern was barely distinguishable. He was imitating the trunk of a tree with the bark on

e whether to use cecropia or polyphemus before long. Really, on a walnut, and in the woods, it should be a luna, according to the eternal fitness of things--but I'm afraid of the trailers. They

gan carving the stick slowly and carefully. His br

bring from the library! How clean and true she was and how unyielding! I can hear her now, holding me with her last breath to my promise. If I could marry a girl like mother--great Caesar! You'd see me buying an automobile to make the run to the county clerk. Wouldn't that be great! Think of coming in from a long, difficult day, to find a hot supper, and a girl such as she must have been, waiting for me! Bel, if I thought there was a woman similar to her in all the world, and I had even the ghost of a chance to win her, I'd call yo

hed the unresponsive master. The carving of the candlestick went on steadily. Occasionally the Harvester lifted his head and repeatedly sucked his lungs full of air. Sometimes for an instant he scanned the surface of the lake for signs of breaking fish or splash of migrant water bird. Again

is hens were carolling their spring egg-song. In the barn yard ganders were screaming stridently. Over the lake and the cabin, with clapping snowy wings, his white doves circled in a last joy-flight before seeking their cotes in the stable loft. As the light grew fainter, the Harvester worked slower. Often he leaned against the casing, and closed his eyes to rest them. Sometime

k to earth again, satisfied for the moment with being a little closer. Across Loon Lake came the wavering voice of a night love song. The Harvester remembered that as a boy he had shrunk from those notes until his mother explained that they were made b

him, and didn't intend to then. So blame mad and disappointed my foot just shot out before I knew it. There he lies half dead to make up, but I'm blest if I forgive him in a hur

nt wings. The moon was high above the trees now, the knife dropped in the box, the long fingers closed around the stick, the head rested against the casing, and the man intoned the cry with all his skill, and then watched and waited. He had been straining his eyes over the carving until they were tired, and when he watched for the bird the moonlight tried them

ld walk it," mutte

e deep wood where he thought it might be he began to discern a misty, moving shimmer of white. Marvellin

ay by seeing a g

a white figure really moved in

aying fool pranks!" e

aight toward the water and at the very edge unhesitatingly stepped upon the bridge of gold and lightly, easily advanced in his direction. The man waited. On came the figure and as it

lily, and soon she was close enough to prove that she was young and very lovely. Heavy braids of dark hair rested on her head as a coronet. Her forehead was low and white. Her eyes were wide-open wells of darkness, her rounded cheeks faintly pink, and her red lips smiling invitation. Her throat was lon

were on the white gravel. When he could see clearly she was even more beautiful than she had appeared at a distance. He opened his lips, but no sound came. He struggled to rise, but his legs would not bear his weight. Helpless, he sank against the casing. The girl walked to his feet, bent, plac

s feet now. Belshazzar

. "Come back! For the love

e, the little owl cried lonesomely; and did he see or did he on

is heels. He hurried to the stoop and stood gazing at the molten path of moonlight. One minute he was half frozen, the next a rosy glow

," said the Harvester revere